Harvest mouse (Micromys minutus)
The tiny harvest mouse lives in long tussocky grassland, reedbeds, hedgerows, farmland and around woodland edges. It is mainly vegetarian, eating seeds and fruits, but will also eat invertebrates. Harvest mice build a spherical nest of tightly woven grass, high-up in the tall grasses, in which the female will give birth to around six young. The harvest mouse has pale, ginger or yellow fur, and a white belly. Its tail is almost hairless and nearly as long as its body. The harvest mouse is the only British mammal to have a prehensile tail: it can use it like a fifth limb, holding on to grass stems with it. UK population 1,425,000. The population trend is unknown but it is thought that numbers have declined in the last 40 years and they are now rare. They mainly occur in southern and eastern England, with a few records in the Midlands, the north of England and southern Scotland. They are absent from Ireland.
Harvest mice shred grasses by pulling them through their teeth and use the strips to weave a hollow nest, about the size of a tennis ball, about 50 – 100cm above the ground and secured to grass stems.
Harvest mouse (Micromys minutus)
The tiny harvest mouse lives in long tussocky grassland, reedbeds, hedgerows, farmland and around woodland edges. It is mainly vegetarian, eating seeds and fruits, but will also eat invertebrates. Harvest mice build a spherical nest of tightly woven grass, high-up in the tall grasses, in which the female will give birth to around six young. The harvest mouse has pale, ginger or yellow fur, and a white belly. Its tail is almost hairless and nearly as long as its body. The harvest mouse is the only British mammal to have a prehensile tail: it can use it like a fifth limb, holding on to grass stems with it. UK population 1,425,000. The population trend is unknown but it is thought that numbers have declined in the last 40 years and they are now rare. They mainly occur in southern and eastern England, with a few records in the Midlands, the north of England and southern Scotland. They are absent from Ireland.
Harvest mice shred grasses by pulling them through their teeth and use the strips to weave a hollow nest, about the size of a tennis ball, about 50 – 100cm above the ground and secured to grass stems.